After finishing second in 1956-57, Indianapolis Chiefs coach Leo
Lamoureux had a definite goal in mind - close the gap on the Cincinnati
Mohawks.

The Mohawks were the IHL's greatest dynasty. In the 1957 Turner Cup
Finals, the Mohawks swept the Chiefs in three games, outscoring them
16-2. In the Mohawks' five years in the league, they had never been
challenged for first place and only once challenged in a playoff series -
going seven games with Troy in the 1956 final.

The 1958 Turner Cup champion Indianapolis Chiefs.

They were the team to aim for. And Lamoureux wasted little time
trying to bridge the gap. Two weeks after the Chiefs had been swept out
of the 1957 Turner Cup Finals, their coach was scouring Canada, looking
for the half-dozen players who would turn the Chiefs from a good team
into a Turner Cup contender.

Lamoureux knew championships. He had played on two Stanley Cup
winners with Montreal in 1944 and 1946, leaving hockey to run a
restaurant. He sold the restaurant in 1956 to take over the Chiefs, and
he slowly built the team into his image.

With a strong nucleus back - led by the reunited "B Line" of
Pierre Brillant, Bob Bowness and Marc Boileau and the stellar
goaltending of Cliff Hicks, a goaltender who was once traded for Gump
Worsley - the Chiefs were set, and close to being a championship-caliber
team. While Brillant took the headlines, Bowness and Boileau were great
players in their own right. Bowness was an NHL-caliber pivot whose son
Rick Bowness later coached the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins.
Boileau - whose father played for the New York Americans in the 1920s as
Rainy Drinkwater (His name was, in fact, Rene Boileau - "Rene" sounds
like "Rainy", in French, "Boire" means "to drink" and "eau" is "water",
hence "Rainy Drinkwater"). Boileau was a late bloomer, having been
talked into playing the game by Sylvio Mantha in 1950. He would go onto a
long coaching career that reached the NHL in the 1970s with the
Pittsburgh Penguins.

Some other key players were back - 22-year-old winger Myron
Stankiewicz would be one of the key ones, as he had improved his skating
and shooting strength over the previous two seasons. Both times, the
Chiefs picked him up from Toledo at mid-season. Frank Kuzma was back, as
was Lloyd McKey and defender Ed Calhoun.

Among the newcomers were two-way defenseman Billy Short, rugged
blueliner Sam Gregory and forward Ross Hughes, who spent his non-hockey
time at Indiana University working on an MBA. Gregory, was a boxer in
the off-season and apparently on the ice, too, as evidenced by his
triple-digit PIMs. He brought a measure of toughness to the team.

The Mohawks had to be knocked off their pedestal. The third-year Chiefs had as good a shot as anyone else.

They began things on the last Saturday in October, heading a few
hours down U.S. 31 to Freedom Hall in Louisville, to help inaugurate the
Louisville Rebel franchise and, for that matter, hockey in Kentucky.
The Rebels were largely the reincarnation of the Huntington Hornets from
the year before. Brillant went on a tear, scoring twice and assisting
on three others, but the Chiefs fell 6-5. The teams traveled back up the
Dixie Highway to open the Chiefs' home schedule the next day. Playing
twice in less than 24 hours didn't warm the teams to one another, as
Myron Stankiewicz and Louisville's Johnny Ubracio dropped the gloves
just 11 minutes in. Three other fights would break out during the
contest. "A real bitter rivalry is in the making," said the Indianapolis
Star's Jep Cadou Jr. There was a 15-minute delay in the third period
for more fisticuffs, and the fans threw taunts at the Louisville defense
all night.

On the ice, Brillant had another big night, with two goals and
two assists. The Chiefs roared out to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes and
rolled to a 6-2 victory. What had to make Chief boss Mel Ross just as
happy as the final outcome was the opening-night crowd - 3,509, much
larger than the season average of a year before.

The B Line continued its torrid pace in Game 3, a 5-2 win over
Fort Wayne, in which Brillant had two goals and two assists. In just
three games, the nifty Chief right wing had 13 points, including six
goals. The Troy Bruins would hold him to one goal the next day - a 5-2
loss on the road - but Brillant would explode for two more, both on
assists by Bob Bowness, in a 4-1 win at Toledo that concluded a
successful 2-1-0 road trip.

Brillant's streak finally ended when the Chiefs returned home
Nov. 10. Toledo's Mercurys scored an early goal, and made it stand into
the third period. But at 8:39, Gregory and Claude Carroll teamed up to
feed Stankiewicz, who scored to deliver the Chiefs a 1-1 tie against the
Mercs. Another good-sized house of 3,609 was on hand for home game No.
2. After the game, defender Ed Calhoun was sold to the EHL's Clinton
Comets, as coach Lamoureux wanted another forward.

Still, the Chiefs' record would dip thanks to defensive lapses in
the next two games - a 4-2 loss to Fort Wayne on Wednesday in which
Cadou wrote, "Hicks got as much protection from the Indianapolis
rearguard as a motorist crossing a railroad track would get from one of
those sets of wooden crossbucks." He got less protection with a visit to
mighty Cincinnati that Saturday. While the crowd of 4,500 in the
Gardens was wowed by several of Hicks' saves, nine pucks did get past in
a 9-1 Mohawk win.

The Mohawks must've used up all their goals. Or Hicks was just
warming up. Either way, they probably weren't worried when Chief
defender Don Busch scored 4:06 into the Sunday afternoon game at the
Coliseum. And Cincinnati got a break when a goal by Marc Boileau was
disallowed later in the first period because Myron Stankiewicz had a
stick in the crease - a point Lamoureux vehemently protested, claiming
Stankiewicz wasn't anywhere near the crease. It turned out to be moot.
When the Mohawks advanced, Hicks kicked the shots away. He stopped 36 in
all, and the Chiefs had a 1-0 win in what might be their best, tightest
performance in their two-plus seasons.

Before the next game, a pair of players were called in from Chicoutimi of the Quebec league - right wing Germain "Red" Leger, a
5-11, 170-pound veteran, and 21-year-old defenseman Marc Parent, a 6-1,
190-pound defenseman. But their presence didn't cause an immediate
turnaround, as the Chiefs proceeded to drop their next three games by
close margins - 2-1 to Louisville, 2-0 at Toledo and 5-4 against Fort
Wayne, a game in which the Komets scored four rapid-fire second-period
goals in seven minutes. Fed up, Lamoureux fined the entire team $25 a
man. "I want 60 minutes of hockey out of every player, not 45 or 50," he
said. "That's what the fans are paying for and that's what they're
going to get, even if I have to get a whole new club to do it."

Lamoureux kept trying to change things. For the second time in as
many years, the B-Line was broken up, as Myron Stankiewicz moved up and
Bob Bowness dropped to the second unit. It was a move largely to spread
out the scoring and take some pressure off Brillant. "Stankiewicz has
size, speed and tremendous power, but he's never been quite able to
realize it," Lamoureux said.
Bowness' new assignment produced three assists in his first game
on the second line, as the Chiefs jumped out to a 3-1 lead. But Troy
rallied to tie the game by the end of the second period and score again
in the third to win 4-3. After giving up five third-period goals in Fort
Wayne the next night and losing 6-1, the Chiefs were 4-9-1, had won
just once in their last nine games, and needed a turnaround.

Amazingly, it came at the hands of the Cincinnati Mohawks. On
Dec. 1, the Mohawks sauntered into the Coliseum in their usual position -
way ahead in first place - and were their usual prohibitive favorite.
Cincinnati jumped out to a 2-1 lead after two periods, but the Chiefs
knotted the game early in the period. With the contest tied 2-2 late,
Billy Short took a feed from Brillant and fired a long shot from 40 feet
out. It eluded impenetrable Mohawk goaltender Glenn Ramsay, and the
Chiefs held on for a 3-2 win. In addition to scoring the game-winner,
Short also had two assists in the game. "The Chiefs are a hockey team
with a strong faculty for beating the best and losing to the lousy,"
Cadou wrote the next day. In their last 10 games, the Hoosier sextet was
2-1-0 against the Mohawks and 0-7-1 against everyone else.

The Chiefs weren't dominant over Cincinnati, however. Three days
later in the Queen City, the Mohawks handed the Chiefs a 6-1 scalping.

That weekend, the Chiefs and Louisville Rebels were to renew
their seemingly-heated rivalry with a home-and-home set. The Rebels and
coach Leo Gasparini were fuming over the Chiefs' signing of "Red" Leger a
month before, claiming it was illegal, adding some more heat to the pot
of an already-festering fued between the Chiefs and their closest
rival. Leger had the last laugh on this weekend. On Friday, he and Frank
Kuzma had two goals and an assist each in a 4-2 Chief win. Back in the
Coliseum on Saturday, Stankiewicz scored twice and Hicks made 44 saves
as the Chiefs routed Louisville 5-1 for their first back-to-back wins
since the opening week of the season.

The Chiefs wouldn't come out of last place for another couple of
games, thanks to back-to-back losses. On Dec. 11, the Troy Bruins
visited the Coliseum for a Wednesday night game. It was supposed to have
been played two weeks prior, but a Lawrence Welk concert kicked the
hockey teams out of the Coliseum Nov. 27. So they tried again. Indiana's
governor was in attendance, but few others were - only 986 showed up.
The small crowd wasn't just because of the scheduling snafu. It was a
bitterly-cold weeknight, as the temperature was five below zero. The
Chiefs were much warmer than the temperature. Brillant had two goals and
an assist. The Bruins couldn't solve Hicks, who stopped all 32 shots
for his first shutout of the year - a 4-0 Chief victory. "The squad is
beginning to jell in all departments and only needs a few more games
like that to jump right into a fight for first place," Lamoureux said
after the game. Cadou said it was the best display of combined offense
and defense of the year.

The Troy win brought the Chiefs out of last place. A three-game
skid put them back there - in one of the games, the Chiefs blew a 3-1
second-period lead and fell 5-3 to Toledo. Before that contest,
188-pound defenseman Ron Morgan joined the team, as did forward Alex
Viskelis. To make room, Claude Carroll and Marc Parent were waived. "I
don't care if Ron scores a point as long as he can get in there and
break up the opponent's attack," said Lamoureux. "He's big enough to
live up to his reputed aggressiveness and that's what we've been needing
on defense of late."

In mid-December, Toledo owner Andy Mulligan began campaigning for
Cincinnati to be expelled from the IHL, claiming the Mohawks violated
the league's salary cap and had too many players on their roster.
Certainly, they were in a league by themselves. Lamoureux had a
different take in responding to the claims, saying, "Why not just go
out and get better talent and beat Cincinnati? Mulligan would like to
turn this into an industrial league to save money."

Lamoureux kept trying to one-up the Mohawks. And the new
acquisitions paid immediate dividends against them. One night after
falling 3-0 in Cincinnati, the Chiefs hosted the Mohawks in a Sunday
matinee. Just like earlier in the year, the Chiefs scored in the third
to knot the game at 2-2. And with 54 seconds left, Viskelis beat Glenn
Ramsay to give the Chiefs a 3-2 victory heading into Christmas.

This win would be the harbinger of bigger and better things. On
Dec. 27, the Chiefs brought their weapons to Louisville. Facing ex-Chief
goaltender Bob Lalonde, who was filling in for regular Rebel starter
Lou Crowdis, the Chiefs got first-period goals from Ken Willey, Myron
Stankiewicz, Sam Gregory, Red Leger, Bob Bowness and Marc Boileau, and
held a 6-2 lead after one. Pierre Brillant jumped into the action with
two goals in the second, while Boileau scored again, but all three Chief
goals were answered, so the advantage was a still-comfortable 9-5
headed into the third. Louisville could only beat Hicks twice, and the
Chiefs had come away with a 9-7 victory in one of the wildest games in
IHL history. It was the highest-scoring game of the year.

The Chief turnaround continued. They beat Fort Wayne 4-1 behind
two goals by Frank Kuzma on Dec. 28. Kuzma had two goals and an assist
in a 3-3 tie against Toledo the next night, and Leger scored with 4:04
left to beat Troy 4-3 on New Year's Eve. He had two goals and an assist
in the game, while the suddenly-hot Kuzma had a goal and two helpers.
The suddenly-hot Chiefs had a five-game unbeaten string going, credited
largely to tighter checking. The record was 12-15-2, and the team that
was in last place in mid-December was now just three points out of
second as the ball dropped to usher in 1958.

The Chiefs took their streak into overtime at Louisville on New
Year's Day in a cleanly-played game - the only penalty was a minor to
the Rebels during regulation. But Chick Chalmers gave Louisville a 3-2
OT win with a goal 5:28 into the extra session. The Chiefs would trade
wins and losses throughout much of January. Among the highlights was a
hat trick by Brillant in a 6-1 win over Troy Jan. 4, and an overtime
goal by Brillant Jan. 11 to give the Chiefs a 5-4 OT win over
Cincinnati. Brillant beat Glenn Ramsay from 10 feet out on the right
side after a short pass from Boileau for the game winner with 3:17 to
go.

Turnabout was fair play, however. The next night, Brillant scored
nine seconds into a game with Fort Wayne. Boileau took a feed from
Brillant and made it 2-0 just 44 seconds in. Shades of Louisville were
beginning to form, but Komet goaltender Phil Hughes held serve from
there and watched his team rally to win the game 3-2 in OT.

Another highlight was a 4-2 victory in Cincinnati Jan. 19, as the
Chiefs got goals from Stankiewicz, Viskelis, Bowness and Kuzma.
Combined with a 6-3 win over Louisville the night before, the Chiefs
were 17-20-3.

Brillant was named an IHL All-Star - the only Chief to be named
to the team - and headed to Philadelphia to meet the Eastern Hockey
League's best Jan. 22. He scored a goal as the IHL beat the EHL 5-4. It
was the beginning of good relations between the IHL and EHL, two
counterparts with largely the same caliber of play. In addition to
holding a joint All-Star game, the leagues talked about playing an
interlocking schedule and a common championship series. The year before,
a proposal to have the Chiefs and Cincinnati Mohawks - the IHL's
finalists - join to play EHL champ Charlotte was scuttled. But talk of
uniting the two champs in 1958 continued.

Before thinking about playing the EHL, the Chiefs had to just get
into the IHL playoffs. A five-point weekend at the end of January
helped, bringing the record to 19-21-4. It started with a Friday night
visit to Toledo. Bob Bowness scored a hat trick - with all three goals
assisted by linemates Stankiewicz and Kuzma - in a 7-4 Chief victory.
Brillant, Busch and Bowness scored the next night in a 3-3 tie with the
Troy Bruins, and the Chiefs rounded out the weekend with a double-hat
trick. Bowness and Brillant both beat Toledo's Andre Binette three times
in a 7-2 Chief win. Bowness could've had five goals, but two were
disallowed because one was kicked into the net and the other was waved
off because a player was in the crease. Binette, interestingly, started
the year as the Chiefs' spare goaltender, but was sent to Toledo early
in the season in exchange for defenseman Bob Leek, who played just 10
games in an Indianapolis uniform.

But the Chiefs would win just twice in their next six games to
fall four games below the .500 mark - with the two wins getting some big
offensive numbers. Brillant had three goals in a 6-3 victory over Troy
Feb. 1. On Feb. 5, the Chiefs scored four straight goals to break a 3-3
tie and beat Toledo 7-4, as Kuzma had a hat trick and an assist. Leger
returned to the lineup after a long injury, which would help the team
for the stretch drive. "If I could have a healthy Leger for a full
season, it would make a tremendous difference in our hockey club,"
Lamoureux said.

Leger's return set the lines as such - Brillant, Boileau and
Stankiewicz would team up on a first line that was averaging more than a
goal a game. Leger, Kuzma and Bowness formed a formidable second unit.
And Viskelis, Busch and Gregory put together a strong defensive third
unit.

On Feb. 9, Stankiewicz scored with 7:15 left to break a 4-4 tie
and give the Chiefs a 5-4 win in Troy. Three nights later, Marc Boileau
broke a 1-1 tie 2:41 into the third period against Cincinnati. Viskelis
scored 24 seconds later to make it 3-1. Ken Willey had a hand in both
with assists. Hicks held on, making 38 saves in a 3-2 victory. The game
was key for the Chiefs, as it moved them into second place - the highest
they could finish, as the Mohawks had already clinched first. Just like
the year before, the Chiefs would find themselves in a mad scramble for
position with Fort Wayne, Louisville and Toledo, with three of the four
teams getting postseason bids.

After beating Cincinnati at home, the Chiefs headed to Ohio for a
weekend trip. But they did so without Leger, who missed the bus. They
could've used his offense. Toledo beat the Chiefs 2-1 in OT on Friday,
and Cincinnati posted a 5-4 win on Saturday, thanks to goals by Bill
Sutherland and Bun Smith in a 2:20 span midway through the third. Back
home on Sunday Feb. 16 against Fort Wayne, Boileau broke a 2-2 tie 5:42
into the third to give the Chiefs a 3-2 victory. On Feb. 19, Leger
provided the third-period heroics, scoring with 17 seconds left to
salvage a 4-4 tie with Cincinnati. Against Fort Wayne the next Saturday,
Leger's second goal came with 4:07 to play and gave the Chiefs a 3-2
win in Fort Wayne.

It set up a Sunday matinee with Louisville. The Chiefs - minus
Kuzma, who was attending his mother's funeral -- trailed 3-2 in the
third, largely thanks to stellar goaltending by Hicks, who made 38
saves. Late in the third period, Alex Viskelis bore down on Louisville's
Lou Crowdis. Viskelis got Crowdis down and appeared to beat him, but
Rebel d-man Grant Morton dove on the puck, grabbing it with his hand. By
closing his hand on the puck, Morton gave the Chiefs a penalty shot
with 3:30 left. Brillant was chosen to take it. He picked the puck up at
center, bore in on Crowdis, got him down with two fakes and pushed a
seven-foot shot into the net to tie the game. It stood, and the teams
skated away with a 3-3 tie thanks to yet another clutch play by the
Chiefs - who had pulled out many victories and ties with late goals.

The penalty shot was just one of many wild moments in the game.
At one point, the teams had seven players between them in the penalty
box. Lamoureux didn't get to see the thrilling finish. He was ejected
for throwing a stick onto the ice.

A playoff spot appeared safe, as Toledo began to fade, but the
Chiefs found themselves locked in a tight duel for second with
Louisville and Fort Wayne. A weekend series with the Komets would be key
in determining playoff position. On Saturday, the Chiefs led 4-2 when
they exploded for four goals in the final 10 minutes to beat the K's 8-2
in the Coliseum. Stankiewicz, who was in the midst of a career year,
had a hat trick and an assist on a goal by Boileau. Brillant, Boileau
and Bowness all had a goal and an assist the next day, as the Chiefs
beat Fort Wayne 5-3 in the Summit City.

The Chiefs were without use of the Coliseum for a while, thanks
to the Boat, Sport and Travel Show taking over. They practiced for a
week in Cincinnati, before heading to Louisville March 8 for a game. The
Rebels had vaulted the Chiefs in the standings - tallying 61 points to
Indy's 60 with three games to play. The Rebels pushed it to a
three-point advantage by making an early lead stand in a 5-3 decision.
The Chiefs whipped Troy 6-2 the next night to move to 28-29-6 and 62
points, as Boileau had a hat trick. The win put them in a third-place
tie with Fort Wayne. Both teams were one point back of Louisville.

On March 12, the Chiefs headed into Toledo with a chance to move
into second. With a win, they'd clinch second. A loss could put them in
fourth, two points back of the Komets and one behind Louisville. The
game meant nothing to the Mercurys, who were out of the playoff picture.
But Toledo still won 4-2. Fort Wayne, which had beaten Louisville 1-0
the Saturday prior to put them in position, beat Cincinnati 3-0 March 13
to clinch second and put the Chiefs into fourth. It would create a
first-round matchup between the Chiefs and Komets.

Indy's sights were set high. If anyone had a good shot at the
Turner Cup, it would be the Chiefs. They had a 6-7-1 record against Fort
Wayne, but had the upper hand the second half of the season. They were
the only team in the league to have a winning record against Cincinnati
(6-5-1), who they figured to meet in the finals. For the sixth straight
year, the Mohawks had run away with the league, going 43-16-5 and
posting a 27-point spread over second-place Fort Wayne. But the Chiefs
figured they had a shot. They just had to get past the Komets first, a
team they'd beaten four straight times. The loss to Toledo had given the
Chiefs a 28-30-6 mark, spoiling their chance at a .500 season.

Boileau had a huge year, with 26 goals, 61 assists and 87 points,
and was the league's third-highest scorer. Brillant (45 goals, 71
points) was second in goals. Bowness (24-44-68), Stankiewicz (25-36-61)
and Kuzma (23-35-58) had all posted huge years, as well, giving the team
two lines worth of firepower going into the playoffs.

The Chiefs entered the playoffs with a slight handicap. The Boat,
Sport and Travel Show had left them without a place to practice, so
Indy's training consisted solely of dry land calisthenics and running. The Komets were led by Len Thornson, a player who the Chiefs had
found, but traded a year before. He was the league's fifth-leading
scorer with 34-47-81. His eight game-winning goals were an IHL high.
Eddie Long (38 goals) would have to be shut down, as would Art Stone
(21-57-78), Fort Wayne's top playmaker. Two other ex-Chiefs, goaltender
Phil Hughes and Len Ronson - another player who was found by the Chiefs
and shuttled to Huntington with Thornson - were now on the other side.
Hughes entered the playoffs with a 3.50 GAA. Hicks' 3.25 mark was
second-best in the league.

The series opened in the Allen County Coliseum March 16. The
Chiefs were smarting from being bumped into fourth, and quickly took
their aggression out on their hosts. They silenced most of the 2,768
fans - save about 100 Chief supporters who braved snow and ice to make
the trek up Ind. 37 to Fort Wayne - quickly. Myron Stankiewicz drew an
early penalty, but while the Chiefs were shorthanded, Boileau took a
feed from Viskelis, crossed over in front of Hughes' cage, and fired.
The puck bounced off the Fort Wayne netminder's pads and into the net.
Just 3:20 in, the Chiefs led 1-0. They'd keep pouring it on. Five
minutes later, Brillant cruised in from the right, drew Hughes out of
the net by faking a shot. At the same time, Boileau was flying in from
the left corner. Brillant slipped him a goalmouth pass, which Boileau
deposited into the open net for the Chiefs' second tally. At 15:28,
Boileau drew the attention of a defenseman and took him out of the play
by dropping the puck back to Brillant, who fired through the screen set
up by Boileau and the defenseman and made it 3-0. From there, the Chiefs
played defense, helping Hicks preserve a shutout. It appeared he had
it. Early in the third, Hicks had pinned a shot under his leg. At the
same time the whistle blew, Komet Jack Armstrong dug in and poked the
puck free and into the goal. It was ruled good despite the pleas of both
Hicks, Ron Morgan and Boileau, the team captain. But the Chiefs would
allow nothing more, posting a 3-1 Game 1 victory.

In Game 2, Fort Wayne jumped out to a 3-1 third-period lead,
starting with a goal by Art Stone just 13 seconds in. Stankiewicz tied
the game 1:13 into the second, but Fort Wayne scored just 34 seconds
later to regain the lead, and pushed it to 3-1 when Ronson and Thornson
hooked up 3:02 into the third. The Chiefs fought back. At 4:52, Leger
picked the puck up at the blueline, swooped into the slot unmolested and
blew a shot from the hashmark past Hughes to make it 3-2. Fort Wayne
clung to the advantage, but the Chiefs kept coming. Finally, they scored
again when Don Busch converted Leger's rebound, tying the game with
2:39 to go. The crowd of 1,930 in Fort Wayne was settling in for OT when
Thornson deked Hicks and scored with 1:04 to play. Now delirious, the
Komet fans figured their team was headed to Indy tied 1-1. Not so fast,
my friend. Lamoureux pulled the goaltender for an extra attacker.
Moments later, Brillant scooped up a draw and fed Viskelis for a shot.
Hughes made the initial save, but couldn't stop Viskelis' second whack.
With 39 seconds to play, the game was amazingly tied once again.

The Chiefs team that wouldn't go away had a leg up in OT. But
Fort Wayne got the early territorial advantage. Hughes kicked out one
Chief shot, and then the Komets began buzzing Hicks' goal. The Chiefs'
deal with Huntington the year before began to haunt them again in
overtime. Three minutes into the extra session, Ronson fed Thornson on
the right side. Thornson fired a 15-foot shot from the angle and scored,
giving his team a sudden 5-4 overtime victory and knotting the series
at 1-1. Hicks had done everything he could to keep his team in it,
stopping 37 of 42 Fort Wayne shots. If he kept his performance up, the
Chiefs would be OK.

Stinging from the defeat, the Chiefs made sure their goaltender
got plenty of support the next night in the Coliseum in the pivotal
third game. They began blitzing Hughes' net early, and midway through
the first period, finally cracked him when blueliner Lloyd McKey buried a
rebound shot to make it 1-0. Just over a minute later, Fort Wayne's
Billy Richardson answered with an unassisted goal. But the see-sawing
kept on. At 13:54, Hughes left a rebound on Bill Short's blast, which
Boileau gobbled up and deposited into the net for a 2-1 Chief lead.
Unlike the see-saw finale the night before, this goal would go
unanswered by Fort Wayne. Late in the period, Brillant scored through a
screen to give the Chiefs a 3-1 advantage. Thirty-three seconds later,
Brillant took a feed from Viskelis on a two-on-one, bore down on the
right side, faked Hughes as he skated across the goalmouth and slipped
the puck underneath the Komet goaltender on the other side of the net to
make it 4-1. Bowness and Stankiewicz would add second-period goals within a
26-second span to make it 6-1 and put the game out of reach. Brillant
would complete the hat trick and Ron Morgan would score in the third
period as the Chiefs rolled to an 8-2 Game 3 victory.

With the season on the line, the Komets resorted to tight
checking in Game 4 March 21. For nearly half the game, neither team
could score, even though the Chiefs put much pressure on Hughes early
and the Komets did the same in front of Hicks' net in the second period.
Fort Wayne followed an early strategy of harassing Boileau, the Chiefs'
high-scoring captain, into heading to the sin bin. Art Stone picked a
fight with him just 1:26 into the game, spearing Boileau in the head to
get it started. When Boileau got out of the box, Billy Richardson tried
to goad Boileau, but the two players received high-sticking minors.

Meanwhile, the 3,250 fans held their breath, knowing the first
goal would be critical in such a game. Midway through the second period,
Chief blueliner Ron Morgan shot from the faceoff circle. Sam Gregory
was camped out in front. Seeing Morgan's shot, he reached out and
deflected it into the Fort Wayne net. Indy had a 1-0 lead. Just over
half the game remained. The Chiefs, playing some of their best defense
of the year, were determined to hold the powerful Komet attack. With
12:25 left, they got some breathing room, as Billy Short beat Hughes
through a screen to make it 2-0. Just 39 seconds later, Bowness found
himself on the receiving end of a 3-on-1. He made it 3-0. And the Chiefs
were on their way. Hicks made a sprawling save on Thornson to preserve
the shutout in the closing minutes, and for the second straight year,
the Indianapolis Chiefs were headed to the Turner Cup Finals.

The Chiefs would have a surprise opponent, however, as the
Louisville Rebels did what no other IHL team had ever done - beat the
Cincinnati Mohawks in a playoff series. The Rebs disposed of Cincinnati
in four games, officially ending the Mohawk dynasty. Turns out it also
ended the Mohawk franchise, as Cincinnati would withdraw from the league
in the off-season.

It was fitting - the two teams had forged a rivalry that had
festered from the moment the season began. Now, two of the IHL's most
bitter rivals were going to match up for the championship. Louisville,
the third-place team, would've had home-ice advantage solely by virtue
of finishing one point ahead of the Chiefs in the standings, going
30-31-3 to the Chiefs' 28-30-6. But the Coliseum was unavailable except
for the opening games, so the final five would be played in Freedom
Hall.

The Rebs were an offensive juggernaut, scoring 239 goals during
the regular season - second only to Cincinnati, and 30 more than the
Chiefs. Chick Chalmers (23-58-81) was the IHL's fifth-leading scorer.
The Rebs had given up a league-high 263 goals, but Lou Crowdis had
played in only 41 games and allowed 141 of those goals. His GAA was
3.44, and with him in net, the Rebs were a much better team. Leo
Gasparini's team finished with a 6-5-1 record over the Chiefs during the
season.

The series began in the Coliseum March 23, and was - not
surprisingly, given the two combatants - an offensive show. Chalmers and
George Raineri scored power-play late in the penalty-filled first
period to give the Rebels a 2-1 lead, rubbing out an early goal by
Viskelis. The Chiefs answered in rapid-fire succession. Starting the
second period on a power play, Lloyd McKey fired a rapid shot past
Crowdis' "chubby" frame to tie the game just 20 seconds in. Thirty-seven
seconds later, Brillant - who had assisted on McKey's goal - would
tally one himself on another quick shot, giving the Chiefs a 3-2 lead.
Raineri scored shorthanded to tie the game and Tommy Wilson gave the
Rebs a lead one second after another Chief power play ended. Ken Willey
stuffed the puck past Crowdis early in the third to knot the game at 4-4
and send it into OT.

Through a 10-minute sudden-death session they played. Brillant
had a breakaway chance to end things, but hit the post. They headed to a
second OT. Crowdis stoned Stankiewicz on a short shot early. At 3:48,
Louisville's Fiori Goegan held the puck at the point. He faked Brillant
out of his shoes, then fired a long blast through a screen at Hicks, who
moved to get a better view of the puck. When it came, he couldn't get
back into position to prevent the puck from entering the net and ending
the game with the Rebels up 5-4 and leading the series 1-0.

Needing a win in Game 2 - or facing the possibility of going to
Louisville needing to win four of five - Germain Leger delivered. With
the game tied 1-1, Sam Gregory - who was slow getting back on his check -
picked a loose puck up at center, pivoted and fed Leger, who skated in
alone and beat Crowdis to give the Chiefs a lead with 17 seconds
remaining in the second period. Two and a half minutes into the third,
Viskelis fired a pass out of the corner to Boileau, who corralled it and
took two hacks before beating Crowdis to make it 3-1. At 4:40, Brillant
scored from close range to give his team a three-goal edge. Gregory and
Boileau would score late to extend the lead and give the Chiefs a 6-3
victory in Game 2. The Chiefs suffered a big blow when Hicks broke his
thumb. Al Bennett was contacted in Toledo, but was unable to free
himself from his summer job, so Hicks would have to go.

The teams headed for Freedom Hall to play the balance of the
series, beginning with Game 3 March 26. The Chiefs and Rebs had split
two high-scoring games on the large Coliseum ice, but a defensive battle
would likely favor Indy, especially with Hicks in goal. Hicks made 18
saves to keep the Rebels at bay in the first, and the teams remained
scoreless until midway through period 2, when Gregory took the puck on
the left half-boards and sent a rinkwide pass to Leger, who was wide
open in front. He whacked hard - splintering his stick - but the end
result was a goal and a 1-0 Chief lead. Louisville's Chick Chalmers
would tie the game 4:17 into the third, and it appeared OT was near as
the minutes ticked down. But the Chiefs had pulled out some last-minute
heroics throughout the year. They'd do it again. With less than two
minutes to play, Kuzma and Bowness kept the puck alive in the zone and
fed Short at the top of the circle. Crowdis sprawled to knock down
Short's blast, but was too late. The puck went into the net, and the
Chiefs had a 2-1 lead with 1:54 to play. Moments later, Crowdis was
pulled, but Boileau scored into the empty net to clinch a 3-1
Indianapolis victory, giving the Chiefs a 2-1 lead in the series.

With its back to the wall in Game 4, the Rebels' high-octane
attack came out firing. The backbreakers came sandwiched around the
first intermission. With the game tied at 1-1, Rebel RW Eddie Dudych
scored with 55 seconds left to give his team a lead. Dudych made it 3-1
with a rebound goal 2:11 into the second. At 3:43, Ronnie Spong beat
Hicks cleanly for a 4-1 Louisville lead. The Rebels would pump 56 shots
at Hicks, dominate territorially and skate away with a 6-3 victory.

With the series knotted at 2-2, Game 5 would be critical. After a
day of rest, the teams convened March 30 for the first of what could be
three games in three nights.

A crowd of 4,058 - the largest the Chiefs saw in the playoffs -
showed up. The teams knew it was pivotal, too, playing a tight game that
wasn't reminiscent of the shootouts that had marked the series. Through
two periods, they played scoreless hockey. Indy fended off a 5-on-3 in
the first, Louisville survived a second-period scare when Crowdis stoned
Boileau on a breakaway. The Chiefs got a power play when Tom Wilson
went off 2:29 into the third for hooking. But Lousville's Fiori Goegan
pounced on a loose puck at center and beat Hicks on the ensuing
shorthanded breakaway for a goal 3:13 into the period. The Chiefs began
trying to knot the game, but Louisville's tenacious forecheck made it
hard to get the puck out of the zone. Crowdis only had to stop five
third-period shots to preserve the Rebs' 1-0 victory. Now, Louisville
was up 3-2 and one game away from the Turner Cup.

Armed by a supportive home crowd, the Rebels smelled blood the
next night in Game 6. They began swarming Hicks' net, putting 14 shots
on him in the first and 15 in the second. But the best they could do was
a 2-2 tie. Don Busch gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead midway through the
first by punching the puck into the net out of a scramble. Less than
three minutes later, Rebel Garry Sharp beat Hicks on a rebound to tie
the game at 1-1. In the second, Louisville's Laurie Peterson scored on a
rebound at 8:52, but George Raineri went off for slashing at 11:28. The
Chiefs took advantage, as Red Leger pounced on a rebound of a shot by
Billy Short and scored to tie the game. The teams went through the third
period without a goal, as Hicks stopped 15 shots and Crowdis 10. The
only incident happened when Leger was checked hard by Grant Morton,
requiring 12 stitches in the head. Leger returned to the ice later in
the game.

So they headed into OT. The Rebels had swarmed the Chiefs through
three periods, and one goal would deliver them the Turner Cup. If the
Chiefs should score, there would be a Game 7 the next night. Louisville
began swarming Hicks, but the Chief goaltender stopped all seven shots.
With 2:05 to play in the 10-minute sudden-death session, Rebel
defenseman Warren Back was sent off for slashing. Quickly, the Chiefs
set up the power play. Short took the puck from Boileau and fed a
goalmouth pass to Viskelis. Wide open, Viskelis chipped the puck past
Crowdis and into the net at 8:34 of overtime, giving the Chiefs a 3-2
victory and setting up a winner-take-all Game 7. Although Short had
three assists, and Leger a goal and an assist, Hicks was the star of the
game, however, making 49 saves on 52 Louisville shots under the most
dire pressure - where every shot can mean the entire season.

So the teams headed back to Freedom Hall April 2 for Game 7. A
throng of 3,517 leather-lunged Rebel supporters was on hand to lend
their voices.

With everything on the line, another low-scoring game seemed to
be coming - a pace that favored the Chiefs, who had won two of the three
tight-checking games in the series. The Chiefs carried the play in the
first period, but Crowdis was stellar, stopping 11 shots. But with 4:05
to play, Crowdis kicked aside a shot by Bowness. Stankiewicz flew in
from the left side, pounced on the loose puck and scored the crucial
first goal.

With the teams in a 4-on-4 situation early in the second, when
Stankiewicz sidestepped a check by Goegan and passed the puck to Kuzma,
who tapped the disc into a wide-open net to make it a 2-0 Chief lead.
The Turner Cup began to close in on the Chiefs, who began to go into a
defensive shell to keep the puck away from their stellar netminder.
Louisville struggled to get through the neutral zone, as the Chiefs
continually intercepted passes and cleared the puck into the Rebel zone.
Viskelis had a chance to really put the game away, but Crowdis made a
diving save with his chest to stone the Chief winger's breakaway six
minutes into the period. Hicks stopped all 11 Louisville shots, and the
Chiefs - armed with a 2-0 lead -- were 20 minutes away from an
improbable comeback and the Turner Cup.

The Rebels had other plans, of course. Eddie Long - Fort Wayne's
leading goal-scorer - was allowed to play for Louisville as a fill-in
for Marius Groleau, who was injured in Game 6. He took a feed from Grant
Morton and blasted a shot into the left corner of the net to cut the
Chiefs' lead to 2-1 just 88 seconds into the period. But Hicks held the
Rebs at bay, and with 7:35 to go, the Chiefs scored a highlight-reel
goal to give themselves breathing room. Boileau dug the puck out of the
corner in the Chief zone and fed Brillant at center. The speedy right
winger moved in on the right side, while Boileau followed on the left.
Brillant cut in on Crowdis' net, drew the goaltender, and then slipped a
pass across the goalmouth to Boileau for a goal, which restored the
Chiefs' two-goal advantage.

It would be needed, as the Rebels staged an all-out assault on
Hicks' net. Dudych took a pass from Morton and slipped the puck under
Hicks from close range to cut the Chief lead to 3-2 with 2:32 to play.
The Chiefs would clear Louisville's advances, but the Rebels came in
with one last shot. With Crowdis out of the net, the Rebs swarmed Hicks'
net in the closing seconds. With five seconds left, Dudych fired. The
puck hit the outside of the net - but the red light inadvertently came
on, and the Louisville fans briefly thought they'd tied the game. But,
as the referee ruled "no goal", the horn sounded. Louisville's fans
howled wildly as the Chiefs celebrated. They had improbably won the
Turner Cup, finishing the regular season with a sub-.500 record, coming
up from fourth place, rallying from a 3-2 deficit in games, winning Game
6 in OT and hanging on for a championship.

They believed all season they could be the team to end the Mohawk
dynasty. Even though they didn't get to play the Mohawks in the
playoffs, they beat the team that ousted Cincinnati. And they fulfilled
their goal of winning the Turner Cup.

The Chiefs had won this title as a team. Hicks' brilliant
netminding. Stankiewicz's speed, which combined well with Leger's
craftiness and Bowness' skill on the second line. Viskelis, another
mid-season acquisition, joined the top line late in the year and
provided a boost during the playoffs. Boileau's great all-around play.
Brillant's nose for the net. Gregory's toughness. Busch's willingness to
do anything - moving from D to center to wing. Boileau and Brillant
would be named to the IHL's First All-Star team. Hicks and coach
Lamoureux would be second-teamers. For the second straight year,
Brillant would be given the James Gatschene Trophy as the IHL's Most
Outstanding Player. Short (1-7-8) and Leger (3-5-8) had eight points
apiece in the Louisville series. Kuzma had three goals and four assists
for seven points. Boileau (4-3-7) also had seven points against
Louisville. Brillant (6-8-14) and Boileau (7-7-14) tied for team scoring
honors.

Once again, the Circle City was a hockey town. The Chiefs had
brought Indy its third pro hockey title in 16 years - all coming in
eight-year increments (1942, 1950, 1958). The Turner Cup they hoisted
was named for the man who began the tradition - Joe Turner, whose
goaltending spurred the Indianapolis Capitals to their first AHL Calder
Cup in 1942, before going off to fight in World War II, where he would
be killed in action.

The series with the Eastern Hockey League champions would never
come to pass, falling apart due to rink unavailability and the length of
league playoffs. Discussions included having the winner of the IHL-EHL
series challenge the top Canadian senior team for the Allan Cup. Big
dreams, they remained. Travel would have been prohibitive -the Chiefs'
future was always a year-to-year thing announced every spring, and Ross
said the Chiefs lost about $30,000 in 1957-58 despite taking in $100,000
in gate receipts. They probably couldn't have stomached a couple of
trips to the East Coast, much less to Canada.

But the Chiefs had achieved their goal - breaking the Mohawk
dynasty and winning a championship. It would be a tough act to top.